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ALBUM REVIEW: The Perms – “Sofia Nights”

Year of the Album – #073The Perms – “Sofia Nights” (2011, Hugtight Records)

Like an alliance between Weezer and Fountains of Wayne, Winnipeg Manitoba’s own Perms arrive here in 2011 to bring good old fashioned power pop back to the masses! “Make It Through” sounds like a long lost Blue Album gem, getting the album off to a particularly solid start, and the hooks just keep coming as Shane and Chad Smith front the band with reckless abandon. “You I’m Thinking Of” could be a candidate for pop single of the year if it had any chance of getting radio play, but lack of exposure won’t stop you from singing along with the chorus by midway through the first time you hear it. The album doesn’t overstay its welcome, taking a half hour to get in, rob your brain and get out again before anyone realizes the band blew the safe. These guys are masters of the elemental pop song, melding the best of what made alt-pop in the nineties great with the DIY aesthetic which is central to making it in 2011. These songs are as good or better than anything mainstream you’ll hear the rest of the year, and Sofia Nights is one of those albums you’ll be glad to brag about to friends. It’s a real winner, and deserves to have more folks in the pop blogosphere talking about it.